Golf balls and mercy at craft fair
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Above: The Little Flowers Girls Club of Our Lady of Fatima Church (L to R: Cecilia Roth, Sydnee Campos, Mary Owen, Breanna Roth, Emma Claire Tatum) and the “mercy kits” they gave out at the church’s craft fair on Saturday. Below: Bees, turtles and ladybugs. Bottom: Judy Campbell and her golf ball art.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Bees, turtles and ladybugs.
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Judy Campbell and her golf ball art.
MOSES LAKE — If you ever want to know exactly what’s inside a golf ball, all you need to do is check out Judy Campbell’s sculptures.
For the last 38 years, Campbell has been carving and making things out of wood, and selling them at craft fairs and bazaars around the region. Then, she said one of her craft magazines suggested the hard rubber at the center of a golf ball.
“They come in all sorts of colors. Green, pink, blue, even black. I’ve never seen red, though,” Campbell said on Saturday from behind her table at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church’s annual craft bazaar.
Campbell was featuring sets of wine bottle stoppers and corkscrews she had made from golf balls she’d cut open and carved geometric patterns into. But she had a number of things she’d made from old golf balls — bees and ladybugs, and roses carved from the hard rubber centers.
“No brand new golf balls gave their lives for this,” she laughed.
Campbell’s sister Lois Drennan was selling knit caps she’d made inspired by the Minions from the “Despicable Me” movies.
“They sell really good, too,” Drennan said.
In a room full of people selling things, the Little Flowers Girls Club of Our Lady of Fatima Church was giving things away — Ziploc bags with soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and a few other small items in “mercy kits” that they had put together for the homeless.
“Sometimes it’s really hard to talk to someone who is suffering,” explained Cecilia Roth.
Hard, because someone who is homeless might not want to talk, or might not smell good, or might not want to hear a kind word.
It is important, however, to show that mercy, to care for others, Cecilia said. Even if it’s difficult.
“It takes courage to show mercy,” added Cecilia’s older sister Breanna.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com